Healing a Broken Heart
by PieAnnamay07
Summary: The requested sequel to Understanding. Spike returns to Sunnydale a month later to a depressed Dawn, an absent Buffy and the Scooby gang going their separate ways. Can he fix something that has been broken for far longer than anyone realized?


Disclaimer – I don't own the characters of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

Summary – The requested sequel to Understanding. Spike returns to Sunnydale a month later to a depressed Dawn, an absent Buffy and the Scooby gang going their separate ways. Can he fix something that has been broken for far longer than anyone realized?

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A/N – Although it took a wile for me to come up with a half understandable plot, I finally have it. This is a oneshot sequel to my other BTVS fic, 'Understanding'. You should probably read that first before you read this.

I'm not a good romance writer, like, at all. I'm giving it a try, though. If you hate it, then just don't review.

Oh, and I'm going to an evaluation for two weeks, so I won't be able to update anything.

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Healing a Broken Heart

As he saw the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign, Spike exhaled heavily. He had spent the last month considering just what had happened to him over the years, and had come up with too much. Too much had happened to him, too many people, too many relationships... and Buffy. Buffy had happened, and she had happened a lot more in the few weeks since they had kissed before he left.

He had also thought of Dawn, the youngest Summers, and just how much she had changed. At first, she had been a whiny brat. Then, after Buffy died, she seemed to change right before his eyes. Gone was the little girl, and in her place was a struggling teenager trying to deal with the death of her older sister. They had really bonded then, having more serious and long conversations than he had ever really had with Buffy.

After Buffy came back, he knew something was wrong. Sure, he thought he loved her, but she admitted that she was just using him. He had thrown it in Dawn's face, explaining what her sister had been up to. Dawn hadn't taken it well, so he had decided to leave.

Now, he was going back a month later. He just hoped nothing too horrible had happened.

****

Dawn stared at the ceiling in her bedroom, sprawled on her back on her bed. It seemed like everything was going out of control. Had Spike held them together, like she had thought right after he left? Xander would've laughed at her, if she had told anyone. But she hadn't.

Buffy had just left one day. She hadn't explained to anyone. Tara and Willow were trying to take care of her, but Willow was starting to depend on magic more than ever. Tara, trying to help Willow, was starting to ignore Dawn. Dawn knew that Tara wasn't doing it on purpose, but still, she felt like she wasn't wanted.

Xander and Anya had actually gotten maried. No one really saw much of them anymore.

All in all, Dawn was feeling neglected and unneeded. Worse still, she missed Spike more than she was willing to admit, even to herself.

She wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him. Probably not, she reasoned silently. The only one he would be missing was Buffy.

She missed Buffy, too. She had noticed that her sister was acting strange ever since she was brought back, but she hadn't known just how much she had been changed until Spike had told her.

And now Buffy and Spike were both gone, and everyone else was drifting away from her and on with their lives.

She forced herself to sit up, and she headed downstairs to make something to eat.

****

Spike stood outside the Summers' household, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his leather duster. He had known that some things might have changed, but this was way more than he had even considered. Everyone seemed to be moving on with their lives. No one seemed to even have missed him.

Buffy was gone. She had appairently just up and left one day. Dawn was still here, but Tara and Willow were so wrapped up in their own problems that they couldn't deal with her.

He wanted to see her, to see for himself if she had changed as much as everything else around her had.

He raised his hand and knocked loudly on the door.

****

The knock on the front door made Dawn jump half out of her skin. She scrambled to her feet, leaving her half eaten piece of frozen pizza at the table as she ran to see who it was.

She was surprised, though, when she opened the door – fake smile in place – to see Spike standing on the other side.

"Spike?" Her voice shook. "Is-is that you?"

"Dawn?" Spike stared at her. She looked almost as bad as he had been afraid she would. She was more pale, her eyes ringed with dark circles. Her hair was slightly messy, and her shoulders were slumped, as though the effort of holding them up was too much.

"Wanna, uh, come in?" Dawn moved out of the doorway, and Spike followed her into the house.

He could tell that no one had really been around much. Dawn had done her best to make sure that it looked clean, but he could see some dust in places.

Dawn sat on the couch, and he sat beside her.

"So, are you staying?" She asked, her eyes meeting his.

Spike was stunned to see the tears shining in them. She was crying over him?

"You want me to, 'Bit?"

She nodded. "I really missed you, Spike. Nothing's been the same without you. It's my fault you left, and that Buffy left, and that everyone else is leaving..."

Spike pulled her close to him, feeling her warmth sinking into his cold skin. He infaled her scent, his eyes hald closed. He had missed her more than he had realized.

"Nothing is your fault, 'Bit. I chose to leave, and Buffy... Maybe it was for the best that she left. The other's, though... They really don't have an excuse." He grinned at her, and she tried to smile back.

"You can stay here, Spike. I can put up the curtains and stuff, if you need me to." Dawn offered, her gaze straying to the uncovered window. Sunrise was in a few hours.

"I'll do it, 'Bit. Don't worry about it." Spike moved his head closer to hers. She didn't pull away. Encouraged by this gesture of trust, he pressed his lips to her's. It wasn't a rough kiss, not like the kisses that he had shared with Buffy. It was gentle, and he tried to show Dawn that he wouldn't leave her. He would stay as long as she needed him. She started to kiss him back, hesitant at first, but the kiss deepened. His tongue slid in her mouth, feeling the warmth of her body unfreezing his.

He knew that she wanted him to stay, and he would. Nothing would ever hurt her, not as long as he could protect her.


End file.
